Are you technically perfect,
  but spiritually weak

Are your words so well crafted,
  your soul cannot speak

Are your rhythms unmetered,
  your feelings unrhymed

Are you stuck in a format,
  that kills the sublime

Do your stanzas all end,
  their beginnings destroyed

Does your summation grieve,
  its parts overjoyed

Can you escape sophistry,
  your craft turned to art

Can you risk all rejection
   —to create with your heart

(Villanova Pennsylvania: November, 2016)